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BA House Cleaning Guidelines, Policies & Procedures

Our policies are designed to help minimize risks and clarify expectations. Please do not hesitate to contact us at 510-788-0048 or info@bahousecleaning.com if you have any questions about our policies. We appreciate your trust in allowing us to care for your home!

General info / guidelines

Furnished Home Cleaning Preparation.  For us to provide you the best clean possible, we ask that you pick up any clothing, household items or toys. It’s best if you also declutter all surfaces before the cleaner(s) arrive. This will help you to get the best possible result, as your cleaner(s) may not be able to fully clean a cluttered area, or know where you keep your personal items.

Move Out Cleaning Preparation.  Your home should be free of all personal items and furniture. Our Move-in/out cleanings are very detailed and require us to have access to every inch of the home. There must be running water and electricity for us to clean. We also require the home to be at a comfortable temperature. 

*there will be an additional charge for homes without running water and/or electricity. 

Someone must be present at the end of the cleaning to do a final walk through and finalize payment. All move out cleanings are to be paid in cash upon completion. 

Pricing and Payment Policies

  1. Flat-Rate Pricing. Our company offers a straightforward flat-rate pricing system that ensures you receive a fair price based solely on your home’s square footage and the services you choose. You don’t have to worry about how long it will take or how many cleaners will be required, as the price is fixed. This makes it simple to schedule either by phone or online, and you know exactly how much you’ll be paying upfront. We provide a variety of cleaning levels to choose from, as well as numerous additional options, allowing you to tailor our services to meet your specific requirements. If you have any requests that are not included in our cleaning menu, please contact our office, and we will do our best to accommodate your needs.
  2. Price Adjustments. We offer an upfront price estimate before we even enter your home, based on what you tell us about the size of your home and the cleaning service selected. We reserve the right to change the quoted pricing, including any applicable discounts, if the actual size or circumstances of your home are not as described, or if the booking options selected are inappropriate.
  3. Rate Increases. We reserve the right to raise our rates as needed to adjust for costs, however we will always give our clients advance notice of any price increase.
  4. Discounts. We provide discounts to customers who schedule recurring cleanings on a regular basis, with the discount amount determined by the frequency of the service. However, if you alter your service schedule or reschedule a cleaning so that it no longer falls within your previously chosen frequency, we may need to modify or remove the discount for that particular cleaning or future cleanings. Additionally, please be aware that if you receive a discount on your initial cleaning for scheduling recurring service, you must also receive and pay for at least one follow-up service as agreed, or you will be retroactively charged for the initial discount.
  5. Rescheduling. All reschedule requests must be made using our online Schedule Change Request Form. Any reschedule request will apply only to the date that you specify on the request form and will not affect your regular cleaning schedule. If you need to reschedule more than one cleaning, please submit a separate reschedule request form for each date. If you need to change your entire Recurring Cleaning schedule, please contact our office.

    Recurring Cleaning customers may reschedule an upcoming cleaning for any day prior to the  next scheduled cleaning at no extra charge, excepting Late Change Fees, if applicable.
  6. Skipping a cleaning. If you are a Recurring Cleaning customer, any request to skip a cleaning must be made using our Schedule Change Request Form. Please note that BA House Cleaning offers discounted pricing for Recurring Cleanings so that we can keep your home consistently clean and provide our cleaning technicians with a predictable work schedule and stable income. The longer we go between cleanings, the more work our technicians will have to do to restore your home to the appropriate condition. If you skip a Recurring Cleaning, you will be charged a $50 Skip Fee on the catch-up cleaning. If you skip two cleanings in a row, you will be charged the full, non-discounted price for the catch-up cleaning.
  7. Cancellations. Once a service is scheduled, all cancellations must be made using our online Service Cancellation Form.
  8. Late Changes & Cancellations. Because our cleaning technicians are scheduled in advance, late changes and cancellations are very disruptive. If you cancel or reschedule a service less than 48 hours before your originally scheduled date, we will charge a $100 late cancellation fee to help compensate the cleaning technicians for the loss of income. If your cleaning is scheduled for a Monday, we request notice of cancellation by 9 a.m. on the preceding Friday to avoid the fee.
  9. Lock-Out. Lockouts deprive our cleaning technicians of their income. If you do not contact us to cancel a cleaning and the technician arrives at your home at the scheduled time and cannot gain entry or is denied access, we will charge you a lockout fee of the full cost of the cleaning to compensate the cleaning technician for their lost time.

    We reserve the right to refuse cleaning of your home if we encounter anything that could pose a threat to our technicians. This could include but is not limited to: mold, hoarding, abnormal buildup, etc.
  10. Happiness Guarantee. We guarantee our work. Contact our office before 11am the day following your cleanings (11am Monday for Friday cleanings) and we will make every effort to correct the problem. I understand that BA House Cleaning does not refund any portion of a cleaning fee. 
  11. Refunds: Since cleaning is a very personalized and subjective service, we cannot offer refunds. Although, we want you to be 100% satisfied with our services! This is why we offer a clean guarantee if a task was not completed to your satisfaction or was missed during our visit simply contact the office and we will return to your home and re-clean that area. 
  12. Billing. When you schedule your first service with us, we will take a credit card that will be kept securely filed for payments. Payment is due at time of each service and your card will be charged the day of each cleaning. If your credit card is declined for any reason, we will contact you and ask for this to be remedied within three (3) business days. If payment is not made within three (3) business days following a cleaning, we will assess a late payment fee of $10 per day, and will pause all scheduled services until payment is made. If your service is paused, you may lose your place in the schedule.
  13. Tipping. While tipping is not mandatory, it is a kind gesture to show appreciation for a job well done by your cleaner. If you decide to tip, we recommend a range of 10 to 20% of the total cleaning cost. You can include this amount as a one-time or recurring charge when paying with your credit card. Additionally, we have a tip form available for your convenience; Add a Tip Form. If you prefer to give cash, please ensure that it is labeled appropriately, such as in a labeled envelope, so that our cleaning technicians can easily identify it as intended for them.

Breakage Policy

At our company, we take great care to protect your home and belongings during our cleaning services. However, accidents can still occur despite our best efforts. To address this, we have created a clear and fair policy for accidental breakage.

  • If you notice any instances of breakage, please contact us at 510-788-0048 as soon as possible. We require that any breakage be reported within 7 days of the incident, and that you save the broken item for our inspection. Each incident of breakage will be evaluated on a case-by-case basis.
  • If the value of the broken item can be verified and the breakage is determined to be due to negligence on the part of one of our employees, we will reimburse you up to $100.00 per item. We will need verification before replacement or reimbursement is authorized. In some cases, we may opt to pay for professional restoration instead of reimbursing you.
  • It’s important to note that we cannot take responsibility for breakage that occurs due to inherently unstable or delicate objects, or items that are improperly placed. Examples of this could include top-heavy items with inadequate bases, improperly hung pictures, or wobbly objects. These situations may occur despite our best efforts to clean your home safely.
  • We’ve also observed that window blinds can become brittle over time and may break while cleaning or being opened and closed. For this reason, we cannot accept responsibility for damages to blinds. If you have any areas in your home that you’d like us to avoid, please let us know and we will make a note of it in your home details.
  • To avoid accidental damage, we suggest moving fragile, unstable, or expensive items to an area we do not clean. Alternatively, you can ask us to skip cleaning that area completely. We appreciate your understanding and look forward to providing you with excellent cleaning services.

Other Cleaning Policies

  1. Employee Safety. Our employees’ safety and wellbeing are very important to us, and we are determined to keep them safe. In an effort to prevent injuries, our cleaners are not allowed to: Climb above the second step on a step stool or ladder, move items that weigh more than 20lbs, clean floors on their hands and knees (exceptions would be bathrooms floors) or use something that is not a step stool or ladder to climb on top of.  These types of activities put our cleaners in danger of hurting themselves or damaging your property. If you would like us to clean behind a large piece of furniture or a large appliance, we can absolutely accommodate the request if said items are pulled away from the wall when we arrive.
  2. Non-Solicitation of Employees: All of our staff have signed a Non-Compete agreement with BA House Cleaning. They are prohibited from soliciting business from any client on his/her own behalf or on behalf of any third party during their contract with BA House Cleaning or for 2 years following termination of contract, without written approval from BA House Cleaning and a possible placement fee of $2,500.00. You agree not to hire past or present staff of BA House Cleaning for a period of not less than 2 years from the date the staff member last worked for BA House Cleaning. A great deal of time and resources are put into hiring our staff and training them. In the event you feel you must hire a staff member of BA House Cleaning in spite of this agreement, then a $2,500.00 placement fee is due immediately upon employment of the past/present staff member, regardless of whether the employment is regular or on a contract basis.
  3. Services We Do Not Offer.

    Bodily fluids, blood, urine or feces. We are not trained or certified to clean these types of materials.
    Any home with insect infestations. If an infestation is identified, the cleaners assigned to your home will leave. You will be contacted immediately and our standard cancellation fee will be charged.
    Chandeliers
    Remove paint
    Clean animal waste
    Move or lift items weighing over 20lbs
    Empty diaper pails
    Maintain or water plants
    Black Mold
    Organizing or decluttering
    Cleaning in areas that are difficult or unsafe to access.
    Washing exterior windows or washing any interior windows that cannot easily be reached with a two-step ladder.
  4. Online Booking: Booking a service online doesn’t guarantee you a spot for that date/time. Your booking is not confirmed until you have completed a confirmation phone call and received a confirmation email.
  5. Technology:

BA House Cleaning  utilizes technology to its fullest to provide an even smoother customer experience! You will receive an automated reminder email three days prior to service as well as a reminder text and email the day before. You do have the option to opt-out of these. Please note that the BA House Cleaning  phone number is an office landline and unable to accept texts. You will also receive a follow-up survey via email after cleaning.

  1. Entry to Home, Keys and Alarm Systems: 

We offer two entry options to choose from:

a) The client may opt to be home to allow access to their home the day of the service.
The client will please prepare for the cleaner to arrive. If no one is home or our cleaners are turned away for any reason, the client will be charged half the service price for that day. 
b)The client provides a code to gain access to the home. In the event the code given is incorrect and cleaners cannot gain access to the home, the client is responsible for the lockout, and a cancellation fee of half the price of that day’s service will be charged to the client’s credit card on file.

NOTE: In the event the client chooses to leave a door unlocked or to place a key under a mat or any other unsecured place for the cleaners to gain entry into the home, BA House Cleaning  will not be held liable for any theft or damages to the client’s home.

  1. Security Alarms: If your home is equipped with a security system, please insure that it is in the “OFF” position or inform our office of the codes and input sequence before your scheduled cleaning. Please be sure to notify our office if this code changes.
  2. Climate Control: The temperature inside of your home should be at a comfortable setting before we arrive. We will not provide services in an environment that isn’t physically comfortable for labor. This includes but is not limited to extreme heat or cold.
  3. Cleaning Supplies: We provide  all of the cleaning products and equipment needed to clean your home. 

Cleaning supplies and Equipment: BA House Cleaning  provides all cleaning products and all equipment required for cleaning your home. We do highly recommend clients to provide their own vacuum cleaner, but its not required.  It is required that your home has running water and working electrical outlets. We reserve the right to charge our standard cancellation fee if we are not provided with running water and or electricity. Our cleaning technicians are not allowed to climb past the second step of a step stool. If you would like us to use specialty products or equipment, please email us at cs@bahousecleaning.com with product details for MSDS review and approval.  We are not responsible for ANY damage caused by cleaning products or equipment provided by the customer. We also cannot honor the clean guarantee if we use the client’s cleaning products or equipment. 

  1. Arrival Window: If you would like to be present for your cleaner, please understand that we have a 1-hour window of arrival. For example; if you are booked at 10:00 am, your cleaning crew will arrive between 10:00 am-11:00 am. Many things can affect our schedules, such as cancellations, lockouts, a cleaning taking longer than expected, etc. If we are running behind or ahead of schedule, our office will call or text you with an updated time of arrival.
  2. Pets: We are a pet-friendly company, but we would appreciate your help in making sure that your pets are secured and safe on cleaning days. We cannot be responsible for pets that “escape” when our cleaners are entering/exiting your home. If your pet will be “roaming free” during the clean, please let us know in advance, so the cleaners can be on alert when they open doors.
  3. Quality Control: Our quality control consists of making home inspections and phone calls. A supervisor may enter your home after our cleaning team leaves. They may call you at home or work. We believe that inspections and client contact is the best way to help in exceeding your expectations and improve our high standards. You may also benefit from a satisfaction survey. We appreciate your feedback.
  4. Your Valuables: If you have any valuables including collectibles or expensive objects, please let the office know so that we can make note of it on your account. You are responsible for letting us know if you would like for us not to clean or handle these items. Please secure any money, credit cards, and checkbooks before your clean, as we are not responsible for missing currency.
  5. Office Hours: Our office is open Monday through Friday 9:00am to 6:00pm. After hours and weekends, a voicemail can be left and we will return it on the next business day. If your cleaning is scheduled on a Saturday, our on call supervisor will be available to the team lead of the cleaning crew. 

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